


Skate or Die

by lazarusthefirst



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Noah POV, Shenanigans, Skateboarding, dares, matchmaker Noah
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazarusthefirst/pseuds/lazarusthefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>‘If I do it, you have to ride on the hood of my car all the way home,’ he said, without blinking.<br/>Noah sat up eagerly. ‘Done.’<br/>‘You’re going to die,’ said Gansey promptly, pointing at Ronan. ‘And I’ll sell your car to pay for your funeral. You think that’s coming out of my trust fund?’<br/>‘Relax, old man,’ Ronan said, already toeing off his shoes. ‘I’ll bring you back an extra special leaf.’</p>
            </blockquote>





	Skate or Die

**Author's Note:**

> So Autumn and I were having a minor meltdown over [this](http://blueandtheboys.tumblr.com/post/134283827797) majestic piece of fanart and then words happened and "WRITE IT" and here we are at 3am on a saturday night
> 
> Noah likes dares

One of Noah’s “majorly problematic personality traits" (Gansey’s expression) was that he could never say no to a dare. More specifically, he could never take on a dare without doubling and tripling down on it until everyone was suffering. He was actually rather proud of his powers of escalation. Gansey never outright told him he was being reckless - because Noah was dead and that would be insensitive and Blue was teaching Gansey a lot about accidental insensitivity - but Noah could see it in the little eye creases he got whenever he was concerned. He didn’t tell Gansey not to worry because it was literally pointless.

But being a little reckless made him feel not unlike how he used to doing over eighty in his mustang. It wasn’t real anyways - he couldn’t even scrape his knees properly - but roping the others in was a new kind of fun.

Noah had discovered that the trick to getting Ronan involved in something ridiculous was making it a matter of pride, not of anarchy. Gansey would giggle and freak out over stealing a road sign, but Ronan did that shit anyways when he was just bored. Once, in his efforts to investigate every nook and cranny of Monmouth, Noah had discovered a battered old road sign on top of Ronan’s wardrobe that said “Loose Chippings”.

‘Why this?’ he’d asked, holding up the sign to Ronan. Ronan had declined to look up from his laptop, but Gansey had kindly explained.

‘Ronan’s father,’ he’d said, ‘told me this story. Those “loose chipping” signs, you don’t really see them around anymore. They got replaced in favour of “caution” or “construction ahead”, and so on. Anyways, the story was that long ago there was a Native American who had two sons, Flying Leaf and Loose Chippings. On the day they reached manhood, they had to go off into the woods and kill a wild predator, as a test of their skill as hunters. Flying Leaf returned with the pelt of a mountain lion, but when it was Loose Chippings’ turn, he went off into the mountains and never returned. His father was wild with grief, and begged the heavens for a sign that his son was still alive.’ Gansey gestured with his cup of mint tea to the yellow sign in Noah’s hands. ‘That’s the sign. Every time they passed one of those, Niall would say “Guess they’re still looking for him”.’

They all looked at Ronan, who was studiously ignoring them all. ‘I don’t actually know where he got that one,’ Gansey admitted. ‘Like I said, they don’t make them anymore.’

‘Applewood quarry,’ Ronan replied, not looking up. ‘That time we broke in to go white trash quarry pit fishing in the overflow from the river that they never bothered to drain. Gansey falls asleep while fishing, just in case anyone was interested. I hauled that up from the bottom while he was snoring.’

‘I don’t snore,’ Gansey said quietly.

‘And you just decided to, what? Keep it?’ Adam looked like he was struggling to see the point.

Ronan arched an eyebrow at him. ‘Parrish,’ he said slowly, as though he was explaining why we brush our teeth to a three year old. ‘It’s a _sign_.’ He smirked at Adam’s confused face. ‘Only a fool would ignore a _sign_.’

So rules meant very little to Ronan. But double dog daring him to do something like chug five beers and then recite the alphabet backwards without fucking it up was different. A little lame, but the main premise was that Ronan had too much respect for his image as a badass to take on a dare he couldn’t actually do, and too much pride to ever actually turn it down if he deemed it worthy. It was a fine line, but Noah had all the time in the world to hone his methods.

‘Ronan,’ said Noah said one day when they were out cruising, choosing his words carefully. ‘I dare you to pick a leaf from the very top of that tree.’

They all craned their heads up to see where Noah was pointing. It was a little known fact that Ronan did not have the best head for heights, so his expression understandably darkened when he saw that Noah was pointing at what had to be the tallest tree in Virginia.

‘If I do it, you have to ride on the hood of my car all the way home,’ he said, without blinking.

Noah sat up eagerly. ‘Done.’

‘You’re going to die,’ said Gansey promptly, pointing at Ronan. ‘And I’ll sell your car to pay for your funeral. You think that’s coming out of my trust fund?’

‘Relax, old man,’ Ronan said, already toeing off his shoes. ‘I’ll bring you an extra special leaf.’

‘No, ok, we’re literally going to watch his body plummet from the sky,’ Adam said, pushing himself off the hood of the Pig. Noah jumped up too, pulling Blue by the hand to where Gansey was already heckling Ronan at the base of the tree.

‘It sure is a lovely morning for a spinal injury,’ he was saying, the corners of his eyes creasing with worry. He threw an irritated glance at Noah, who just shrugged with his best “who, me?” face.

‘Can Ronan climb?’ Blue asked, sounding more interested than concerned.

‘He can,’ admitted Adam, shoving his hands into his pockets. ‘Pretty well actually. He scaled the side of Monmouth two weeks ago when Chainsaw got stuck in a drainpipe. He just has a slight problem with heights.’ 

‘The trick is not to look down,’ Ronan said, grinning over his shoulder at Blue. Then he reached up and hauled himself up on to the lowest branch. Barefoot and going up, Ronan was actually quite nimble. Noah itched to follow him up, but that would defeat the purpose of the dare. He didn’t actually think Ronan would fall - or he hadn’t when he’d brought it up - but maybe this was his whole “dead complex” rearing its head again. Should he be worried? Ronan always seemed so invulnerable to him. But then again Noah had thought the same about himself, before he’d gotten his head caved in.

It wasn’t long before Ronan disappeared into the leaves and out of sight. Gansey was hopping from foot to foot, and Adam’s shoulders were stiff and tense. Even Blue was frowning. ‘What if he does fall?’ she asked quietly.

‘He’ll hit the branches on the way down,’ Noah said reasonably. ‘He won’t, like, splat, right in front of us.’

‘Helpful as always, Noah,’ Gansey said.

‘Are you gonna break his fall?’ Noah whispered to Adam. ‘Like, catch him or whatever? Do you think you’d do it impulsively, without even thinking?’

‘Shut up Noah,’ Adam said through gritted teeth.

It took a long time - like thirty minutes - for them to even see rustling. An unreasonable amount of time, Gansey called it, voice slightly high-pitched. When a branch did creak and groan high above them Blue gasped in alarm, then instantly crossed her arms and grumbled ‘Finally.’

Ronan took his sweet time climbing down the last few branches, during which time the others basically danced around at the bottom, giddy with unspoken relief. Ronan jumped the last few feet, landing like a cat before straightening up, and only wobbling a little. He had a thin branch with four leaves on it clamped between his teeth, but other than being extremely pale, he looked none the worse for wear.

He plucked the leaves off one by one, handing them to Gansey, Blue, Adam, and the biggest one for Noah, before tapping him gently on the head with the stick and striding over to his car, stooping to pick up his shoes on the way.

‘Thank goodness,’ Gansey said quietly, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

‘Not bad,’ Blue said, admiring her leaf.

Noah was grinning. ‘Cool,’ he said.

Adam’s shoulders were finally starting to relax, a rueful smile on his face. ‘Pretty cool,’ he agreed. Noah bumped shoulders companionably as he followed Ronan, already anticipating the open-air ride home. Being a thrill-seeker was a lot more accessible when you were dead.

 

Once, he dared Blue to streak down the street, which she only agreed to do if Gansey did it too. Ronan and Adam both promised not to look, but Noah peeked anyways. Blue had run proudly and fearlessly; Gansey had stumbled along in her wake, both looking and trying really hard not to look. The result was he ran into a lamp post and got a concussion and had to be driven to the hospital by Ronan, who was laughing almost too hard to drive, while Blue wore Adam’s coat back to Monmouth and was only bothered by the fact that she was too naked to go straight to the hospital with them.

Noah had been looking to get Adam doing something really good, but he had too much sense to do anything idiotic, and wasn’t prideful enough to be easily goaded. Noah, however had all the time in the world to figure out his weak point. He didn’t even need to sleep. Usually he kind of just faded into a state of non-thinking for the hours that his friends slept, and came back to himself when they stirred. But sometimes he found uses for all that extra time.

He knew Adam thought himself unknowable. He knew that Adam sometimes felt like no one was paying enough attention to him to figure him out, or even care enough to do so. Noah had never been in love, but he knew what it looked like from hanging out with Blue and Gansey. It wasn’t difficult to see how Ronan felt about Adam; he dreamt up things to please him, let his eyes linger on him even when it was obvious, and had even shrugged off the practised disinterest that he tried so hard to affect whenever Adam was near him. Now he acted like Adam was the sun; he leaned towards him, even when he tried not to. He’d stopped worrying about flying too close, it seemed.

But Adam remained a mystery to Noah. He did a lot of poking around Adam’s life too, whenever he thought he wasn’t looking. Mostly, it took a lot of observing Adam when Ronan was around and comparing it to how Adam was when Ronan wasn’t around, before Noah could conclude that yeah, that was probably what love looked like for Adam. It was a tense and slightly awkward thing that he was probably resisting, because he was Adam and loved to make things difficult for himself, but that could surely be fixed with the right amount of poking. And Noah was good at poking.

‘Do you think Adam would go five for five over the Pig on my skateboard if I dared him to?’ he asked Blue and Gansey one evening over dinner. Ronan was at his mandated monthly dinner with his brothers, and Adam was working.

'No,’ Blue said, twirling spaghetti around her fork.

‘Probably not,’ agreed Gansey. He’d gotten a little stressed over making dinner and had spaghetti stains on his shirt collar. Noah wasn’t eating but they’d fixed him a plate anyways so he didn’t feel left out. Ronan didn’t like eating around Declan because he claimed asking him to sit at a table with his brother while holding a knife was too big of an ask, so he’d probably eat Noah’s share later. The leftovers would be donated to the “feed Adam constantly” campaign, to be brought over and forced into his hands when Gansey was dropping Blue home.

Noah thought about it. ‘How about three for three?’

Blue shrugged as Gansey grated parmesan over her meal. ‘Maybe.’

Noah thought about it some more. ‘What if Ronan was there?’

Blue and Gansey looked at each other. Noah raised his eyebrows.

‘He might actually kill himself trying,’ Blue said slowly.

Gansey sighed, setting down the cheese. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘But maybe it’ll ease the whole tension thing. What did you call it?’

‘The queer elephant in the room,’ replied Blue.

‘Yeah, that,’ agreed Gansey, gesturing with his knife. ‘I mean, I know we haven’t really ever talked about it, but Ronan, I mean - ’

‘He’s gay.’

‘Yeah, he’s gay.’

‘Yeah. And Adam,’ continued Gansey, ‘he’s - ’

‘Bisexual?’ suggested Blue.

‘Right, that,’ said Gansey. ‘And the tension is making Adam lose weight. At the very least, we need to get it all out in the open and just kind of, I don’t know, push them together and …’

Noah tapped the tip of Gansey’s outstretched knife with his own. ‘Like that,’ he said.

Blue snorted and Gansey rolled his eyes. ‘Right, thanks Noah. Just try not to kill either of them in the process.’

‘Can’t promise that I’m afraid,’ said Noah.

 

It happened on a warm, sticky Saturday evening. They were hanging out in an empty field two streets down from Monmouth, too lazy to skate or rib each other, slowly drinking beers that were getting warmer. Gansey had his head on Blue’s stomach; they were lying on a picnic blanket on a scrubby patch of grass. Ronan was drinking in the back seat of the Pig, feet sticking out the window, and Adam was dozing in the front. Only Noah was properly conscious, lying on the warm stone wall and shaking a snow globe. Ghosts didn’t get sleepy.

‘Hey Adam,’ he called, raising his voice slightly. Adam barely lifted an eyelid, but inclined his head in Noah’s direction. ‘I dare you to skate the Pig course on my board. Three for three, no cuts. In fact, you can’t even hit the tarmac.’

Adam smirked, eyes still closed. ‘What’s in it for me.’

Noah watched him carefully. ‘Ronan will give you a kiss if you do it.’

Adam’s eyes flew open. ‘Noah - ‘

‘He won’t do it,’ Ronan cut in. ‘Chicken shit.’

Adam turned around to glare at him. ‘Took the words right out of my mouth.’ He was blushing, but Ronan’s eyes were still closed.

‘So you _will_ do it?’ Ronan said. Noah squirmed happily; Lynch was doing all the work for him.

Adam turned around in his seat, disgruntled. The bind was obvious; if he didn’t do it, Ronan would take offence and rightfully call him chicken shit. But if he did it, that would be admitting he wanted that kiss. Noah crossed his fingers and toes.

‘Fine,’ he said shortly. ‘And you can kiss my shoes too, Lynch.’

Ronan didn’t reply, but he was grinning. Gansey was of course in on it, but, being Gansey, he couldn’t resist a good worry. ‘Adam,’ he said, ‘you can’t skate for shit and I don’t feel like spending my evening in the emergency room. I’m on first name terms with the triage nurses now.’

‘You’re on first name terms with every adult in Henrietta,’ Adam countered, grinning at him. Blue shoved Gansey gently off her so she could sit up and watch the carnage. Ronan was getting out of the Pig; Noah helped him drag over the ramps and Adam got the board.

‘Let’s go, Tony Hawk,’ Ronan said, sitting on the wall beside Noah and giving him his best shit-eating grin. ‘I’m a busy guy.’

Adam flipped him the bird and kicked off the tarmac. He went up and over the length of the Pig so easily Noah actually wondered he’d been practising in secret. Gansey winced at the noise and muttered ‘Now I remember why we don’t do this anymore.’ Blue clapped and laughed as Adam circled around easily. Noah gave him an enthusiastic two thumbs up. Ronan only shrugged and said ‘Not bad.’

The second go was just as good. Adam hardly looked like he was trying, even though Noah knew how difficult it was to get the skateboard up on to the hood, up the windscreen, along the length of the roof and down the back of the car and off. Ghosts apparently weighed next to nothing and even he had difficulty with it. Ronan wasn’t laughing anymore.

But when he took the board up the third time - it was hard to tell. Noah couldn’t be sure that Adam deliberately scuffed the lead up, but either way he caught the edge of the board on the rim of the windscreen and hit the dirt, hard. There was a highly unpleasant thud, and Adam yelled in pain. He was half-laughing anyways, but it was punctuated with pained groaning as Blue and Gansey scrambled up to help him.

‘I’ll call Jenny and let her know we’re coming, shall I?’ Gansey said tiredly, digging out his phone. ‘Christ, Parrish, you cracked my windscreen.’

‘The Pig has seen worse,’ Adam croaked, trying to sit up. Blue put a hand on his forehead and pushed him back down.

‘Sit until we know you’re not concussed,’ she said sternly, though she was fighting back a smile.

‘How will you know that?’ Adam asked.

‘I’m psychic.’

Ronan and Noah hung back, letting the other two fuss. Noah wondered what Ronan was thinking. He shook the little snow globe behind his back and made a wish.

‘Where does it hurt?’

‘Um…everywhere?’

‘Where does it hurt the most?’

‘My ankle, I guess. I tried to do the whole “break your fall” thing, but with my feet.’

Standing wasn’t an option. Blue pronounced it “badly sprained” and recommended not putting any weight on it for a while, so Adam remained on the ground. ‘I do need to go home at some stage,’ he said.

‘Not while you can’t walk,’ Gansey argued. ‘You’re staying here tonight.’ Luckily he’d won this argument before, so Adam only rolled his eyes.

‘Still need to get up all those stairs,’ he said, leaning tiredly against the car. His ankle must have really hurt. Probably his pride too.

‘Hey Ronan,’ Noah said, quiet enough that only the two of them could hear. ‘I dare you to - ’

’Shut up, Noah,’ Ronan said. He crossed over to Adam and crouched down beside him. Before Adam could do or say anything about it, Ronan leaned in and kissed him soundly on the mouth, shutting everyone up for about ten seconds. Then he straightened and reached down to Adam, who extended his hand automatically in a daze, expecting to be pulled to his feet. Noah had brief, glorious visions of Ronan pulled Adam up into an embrace and kissing him again - Noah loved all that romantic stuff - but instead Ronan stooped down and hauled Adam right over his shoulder, shifting his hold down to his wrist. Adam gasped and went bright red, smacking Ronan’s back with his free hand, the other still clasped in Ronan’s.

‘Relax, Parrish,’ he said. ‘I’ve carried sheep like this before and they were all heavier than you.’

‘I’m not a sheep,’ Adam protested. ‘Just put me in the car! Gansey, can you please do something.’

‘Um, Ronan,’ Gansey attempted, though he was smiling as widely as Blue. ‘Maybe you - ’

‘No.’

‘Sorry Adam,’ Gansey shrugged. ‘I tried.’ He linked arms with Blue. ‘Actually now that I think about it, I have to drive Jane home. Right now, this instant.’

‘Ah, well remembered, Dick,’ said Blue, leaning in to him. Gansey didn't even flinch at the name. ‘Ronan will make sure Adam gets home safe.’

‘Sure will,’ said Ronan cheerfully, waving with his free hand. Noah cackled, grabbing the skateboard. He’d disappear off to his happy place long before Ronan and Adam got back to Monmouth, but he deserved this part at least.

Adam was blushing wonderfully and covering his face with his free hand, but then Noah saw Ronan stroking the inside of Adam’s wrist gently. His face was expressionless, but there was such care and intimacy in that tiny gesture that Noah felt like he’d suddenly stepped into a scene where he didn’t belong. He looked at Adam, and saw that his hand had dropped from his face and his fingers were grazing his lips, like his brain was finally catching up. The look on his face was something Noah couldn’t fathom; he would have to do a lot of thinking about it.

Noah hopped on the skateboard and pushed off. ‘Dare you to make him blush like that again,’ he murmured to Ronan as he passed him.

‘Planning on it,’ Ronan called after him. When Ronan was happy, you couldn’t see the smile as much as you could hear it in his voice. Noah skated ahead, smiling happily with the wind in his hair. Maybe he’d have time to clean up a little before they got back. Thrill seeking wasn’t all about the danger and potential injury, he thought.

He looked back just in time to see Ronan bend his head to press a kiss to Adam’s wrist. The least he could do was get the door for them.

**Author's Note:**

> The loose chippings story is something my boss told me his dad used to say all the time. It's funnier when he tells it
> 
> I'm on [tumblr](http://thetrojeans.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](http://twitter.com/lazarusthefirst/)


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